The cultural representation of “natural childbirth”: The outlook on the pregnant body in the mid-twentieth century

Abstract

The scope of this study is to discuss teaching strategies directed towards women to institutionalize the representation of normal birth based on the work “Natural Childbirth: A Guide for Future Parents”, published in 1955. The research begins with a historical and cultural analysis of the 1955, 1957, 1960 and 1964 editions of this book. It is aided by materials published, in the same period, which share the same meanings and representations concerning issues surrounding childbirth in the Brazilian context. It is a period marked by retrospectives and the emergence of methods for preparing women for the childbirth process. The results of our analysis, in the light of Roger Chartier’s theoretical framework, especially applying the notion of representation of Michel Foucault, indicate that the apparatuses used in the work’s registers sought to propose a disciplinary model for childbirth: institutionalization, medical insertion and industrialization of normal childbirth in the Brazilian context of the mid-twentieth century.